Essential Tips for Winter-Proofing Your Toilet Plumbing
The winter seasons can be brutal not only for one’s home but even for the plumbing system. During winters, there is a threat of burst pipes, leaks and other plumbing issues that can cause great hassle in life. It’s not simply about the luxury of protecting your toilet plumbing socket during the winter- it’s much about repairing something or saving on potential water damage. If you require expert services, you can always visit https://www.plumbersingapore.org/toilet-plumbing-services/ for skilled toilet plumbers.
Here’s a manual for securing your bathroom plumbing in winter.
1. Insulate Exposed Pipes
Make sure to cover any pipes that extend outside so they do not freeze and crank up your heating bill. This is most applicable to pipes situated in the basement or crawl spaces and can be covered with foam tape.
2. Keep Water Flowing
During particularly frigid weather, make it a practice to allow a slow drip from your bathroom tap. This has the benefit of preventing ice block formation. As they are common plumbing problems seen in winters, nearly all homes tend to struggle with broken pipes. Moving water also puts a little pressure on pipes which can stop them from breaking when the ice formed inside them expands. This can help you avoid major repair costs. For additional plumbing advice or help with issues like blocked drains and chokes, you may visit: https://www.plumbersingapore.org/clogged-drain-choke/ .
3. Seal Drafts in the Bathroom
It is a known fact that cold air can lead to freezing, so it is advisable to provide padding in areas that have thin drywall, or around doors and windows. By doing this, any drafts in your bathroom will be sealed, drastically decreasing the chances of your pipes freezing over.
4. Maintain a Warm Bathroom Temperature
There’s never a bad reason to increase the temperature in a bathroom, especially if it’s winter and really cold outside. Keep warm by using a space heater or lowering the temperature setting on your thermostat. Maintaining a good temperature not only protects the humans using the restroom but also keeps your toilet’s plumbing safe from damage.
5. Check for Leaks Early
It is advisable to take measures to winter pack your toilet plumbing to avoid expensive maintenance repairs during the cold season. Start with insulating exposed pipes, especially in unheated areas such as basements and crawl spaces with foam pipe insulation covers. Leak detection mechanisms should always be employed to maintain supply pipes of your toilet; any dripping water could accumulate and burst the pipes. Allow bathroom doors to remain open so that warm air can circulate, and on very cold nights, don’t hesitate to let taps run to the extent of dripping.
6. Shut off Outdoor Plumbing
Do not forget to stop the supply of the outdoor water line connected with the outdoor toilet, then drain the pipes. Water that is standing still in the outdoor lines will turn to ice and affect the proper function of your toilet plumbing when it recedes back to indoor plumbing lines.
7. Use Anti-Freeze for Toilets in Unheated Spaces
In case your toilet is installed in a cabin or in a garage, add some plumbing antifreeze in the bowl and the tank. This will ensure that the water in the toilet does not freeze which would result in the toilet cracking.
8. Regularly Flush Toilets
To prevent the water in the pipes from freezing, remember to flush your toilets at least once during the winter season. It is especially more crucial to note this for bathrooms that are used infrequently.
9. Install Frost-Proof Fixtures
Frost-free plumbing fittings can make a world of difference, and it is worth purchasing them once you can. Frost-free fittings are ideal for use in places with low temperatures.
10. Get Professional Help
Some tasks are complicated and winter proofing your toilet plumbing can be one of them, time and energy-wise, let alone the problems frozen pipes or multiple leaks can cause. In such scenarios, hiring a plumbing specialist is best. Tariffs have changed since the recession, and there are a lot of structural differences as well as rebuilding that needs to be done in the market today. Interacting with an expert helps to resolve all those problems very quickly. This is beneficial in decreasing long-term costs.
